The HEPI Blog aims to make brief, incisive contributions to the higher education policy landscape. It is circulated to our subscribers and published online. We welcome guest submissions, which should follow our Instructions for Blog Authors. Submissions should be sent to our Blog Editor, Josh Freeman, at [email protected].
Last week, I wrote a blog predicting our newest paper, which looks at the uses of tuition fees, would turn out to be one of our most controversial ever. That prediction has already turned out to be true, but not for the reasons I outlined. I had thought challenge would…
Our latest publication shows where student fees really go. As such, it has the potential to be one of HEPI’s most controversial reports ever. That is unintentional. We never stoke controversy for the sake of it. But exposing the uses to which England’s £9,250 undergraduate fees are put reveals things some…
There was an interesting announcement, or more truthfully an interesting re-announcement of a previous re-announcement of an old announcement, by the Department for Education overnight. The Government are re-committing themselves (once again) to an increase in the tuition fee cap for two-year degrees. This is a good idea, as it means the…
HEPI generally only publishes original material, but we felt this historical-but-timely article by John Taylor, Visiting Professor in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University (originally published on The Conversation website), deserves a wider readership. November 2018 marks the centenary of the end of the World War I. It was…
A guest blog kindly contributed by Professor Graham Galbraith, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth With the Office for National Statistics soon to rule on the accounting treatment of student loans and speculation that fees for non-science subjects will be reduced, Ryan Craig’s 2015 book College Disrupted on the ‘great unbundling…
A guest blog kindly contributed by Daniel Barrass, Marketing Business Partner for Higher Education, Tribal. Technology, by its very nature, has always sought to make processes simpler than before – and new advances have made the impossible, possible. Today, the juggernaut that is ‘technological change’ is moving at speeds incomprehensible…
A guest blog kindly contributed by Dr Hollie Chandler, Senior Policy Analyst for the Russell Group. HEPI’s decision to theme its upcoming annual lecture on African higher education is welcome. From a UK perspective, there has been far less discussion on research and education in Africa than other continents, including across the Atlantic and…
A guest blog kindly contributed by Dennis Sherwood, who runs the Silver Bullet Machine consultancy. Twelve pairs of eyes looked intently at the small, dapper, moustachioed figure at the head of the table. “Your case is very like another I solved only recently,” he said. “Whilst a train was snowbound, a savage…
Jonathan Simons, formerly Director of Policy and Research for the Varkey Foundation, writes a review of the new book Life Lessons: The Case for a National Education Service by Melissa Benn. In the afterword of her short book, Melissa Benn recounts a speech she gave at a political meeting, in which…
Student mental health is rightly on the agenda, including from HEPI’s own publications such as The invisible problem? Improving students’ mental health by Poppy Brown and The Positive and Mindful University by Anthony Seldon and Alan Martin. However, it is vital that the mental health and wellbeing of staff working…